First sparrow back...

American Tree Sparrow Photo courtesy Wikipedia

I was delighted March 24 to look up from my lunchtime bowl of soup to see a bright rusty-headed sparrow in with the usual mob of House Sparrows under the feeders. My first thought was Chipping Sparrow at the sight of the red-brown cap (what the guide books call "rufous") but something wasn't quite right. No black line through the eye accented with a white eyebrow. Instead a gray face with a rufous line behind the eye. And then - aha - a black spot in the middle of the chest, the "stick pin" that screamed American Tree Sparrow.

It was so exciting to see our first migrant of the spring - they are the first of the sparrows to make the trek north. Well, what is supposed to be spring. It is still minus 20 when we got up this morning and if any snow has melted, it's not significant. But if the American Tree Sparrows are passing through on their way to their breeding grounds in the Arctic, then indeed there is hope others must be on their way as well and spring will come.

This is the first time we have noticed a tree sparrow at our feeders here in Naicam. I had not seen any since we left Delisle. I see from my"notebooks" that  it was April 2, 2004 that I saw my first American Tree Sparrows. A small flock of them were in and under the caragana windbreak at the north east corner of the field that became Delisle Golf Course. The snow was all gone that year and it was a lovely spring day when I was out walking Normie, our Schnauzer.

Jim Hay, in his article in Birds of the Saskatoon Area says that while "they show up in yards, they are more commonly found in trees along roadsides and in parks..." Their peak period of spring migration is from the last week in March to the end of April... the peak fall period is 25 September to 25 October.  "Like an enthusiastic party-goer, the Americn Tree Sparrow is the first to arrive and among the last to leave!" Hay writes.

So far only one tree sparrow has shown up in our yard - he was here again this morning. Maybe there is more of them over along the Rail Trail, keeping out of town? And the juncoes can't be far behind, can they?